In the packaging of articles, it is often necessary to take a single lane of successive articles and divert it into two or more lanes for packaging. The division process is used in container filling and packaging lines, for example, to supply containers to packaging machines that have a plurality of infeed lanes. For example, articles for production lines, such as containers being filled with a product, come from the filling equipment with sealing means applied to them in a single lane on a conveyor and have to be divided into a plurality of lanes in order to be filled into packages such as three-packs or six-packs. This division of a main stream article line transported on a conveyor into a plurality of lanes can also be necessary when it is desired to separate articles of similar cross-section shape, by height, or by color, or during an inspection process where it would be necessary to reject the articles for flaws or missing components such as caps or labels.
One existing apparatus for dividing a single lane of articles into multiple lanes employs an upstream lane, two downstream lanes, and a mechanism to change the angle of the upstream lane in a region proximate the two downstream lanes so as to permit a movable end of the upstream lane to be positioned to feed into either of the two downstream lanes. Such arrangements, unfortunately, do not permit conveyance of the articles as quickly as desired without unduly increasing the risk of a blockage due to failure of the article to make the turn in the transition between the upstream single lane and the two or more downstream lanes.
Another existing apparatus employs a servo motor to move a single pair of swing arms to divide a lane of articles into multiple lanes. The swing arms move one complete width of the lane when it is desired to change lanes. While the swing arms are moved from one lane to another lane, the articles are slowed down or stopped to retard movement of the articles through the swing arms.